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description

Object description

image: a wooden cutlery tray balances on some wooden blocks on a small bookcase, forming a display container for various
wooden items: spheres, cubes and cones, counters for board games and pieces that look as if they may have once been part of a chair or
table leg, or suggestive of mechanical components. The only clearly identifiable item is a wooden mannequin's hand with a black stigmata
painted on its palm. The whole object is painted in shades of grey, white and black to exaggerate the items' shadows and highlights and to
create the illusion of additional faces and depth. Behind the objects, on the flat panel at the back of the bookshelf, similar objects are
painted in a trope l'oeil style.

Physical description

wood and found objects

Label

This piece refers to Henry Reed's poem of the same name, drawing on his experiences in the Second World War. It was
made during the recent war with Iraq in 2003, in reaction to another of the artist's pieces in the Museum's Art collection, 'Other Mothers'
Sons' [IWM ART 16420].